John 6:24-35 page 1

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She was the most severe manager I ever had at the office, and the only one who didn’t let her staff address her by Christian name. Mrs A D Freeman. She never let on what the A, let alone the D, stood for. A rumour went round that A was for Agnes, and she didn’t like the name.

She lived to work, and expected her staff to do the same. The idea that many people didn’t live to work but worked to live was foreign to her. It was probably dishonourable in her view.

And our passage today raises that kind of question: what do we work for? Not necessarily in the sense of paid employment and careers but in this sense: where do we put our energies? What matters to us? What are our deepest values and most precious concerns? What are we devoted to?

For the crowd catches up with Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand. You may recall from last week that Jesus knew they wanted to make him king by force, and so he slipped away. But when they find him and ask him when it was he had got to Capernaum [verse 25], he replies:

‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’
[verses 26-27]

What food are you working for? asks Jesus. Food that perishes or food that endures for eternal life? Food that spoils or food that satisfies? It’s a question that bears asking today. And it bears asking of us.

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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.